Infectious Disease

Patients stung by fire ants instantly feel intense burning pain at the site, hence the name "fire" ants; the small pustular lesions typically develop about a half hour afterward and evolve over several days.

ABSTRACT: Risk factors for oral cancer include tobacco use and alcohol intake (especially in conjunction with tobacco use). Many benign conditions may be confused with squamous cell carcinoma, the most common type of intraoral neoplasm. Any red and/or white lesion that has surface corrugation, stippling, or induration is considered dysplastic or neoplastic until proved otherwise. Even without these clinical signs, white plaques of any size that persist for several months may represent dysplasia. These lesions should be assessed by biopsy. Risk factors for lichen planus include stress, exposure to certain foods and medications, and systemic illness. Erosive lichen planus may cause significant pain and oral dysfunction.

If Rip Van Winkle were a primary care physician who fell asleep a generation ago and woke up today, what would he think?

When I repair facial lacerations on toddlers, I find that they are likely to start pulling at the bandage as soon as I put it on. An effective solution is to put a colorful children's adhesive bandage on each of the patient's thumbs.

An asymptomatic loss of pigment around the eyelids of several weeks' duration prompts a 53-year-old woman to seek evaluation. She has not started wearing any new eye makeup; her only medication is an antihypertensive.

Generalized papular, erythematous, nonpruritic, hyperpigmented lesions had appeared on the face, arms, chest, and abdomen of a 25-year-old homosexual man with AIDS during the previous month. Anupama Ravi, MD, of Atlanta also noted purple-red, nodular lesions in the right conjunctiva and oral cavity, especially the lower gingiva. Other pertinent physical findings included facial edema and hepatosplenomegaly.

SAN DIEGO -- For a variety of factors, HIV-infected children appear to have more psychiatric problems than uninfected children, researchers reported here.

BOSTON -- An investigational drug that inhibits programmed cell death could help to prevent fibrosis in hepatitis C-infected livers, even when standard therapies fail to clear the virus, researchers reported here.

BOSTON -- The presence of diabetes may triple the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with advanced fibrosis or cirrhosis from hepatitis C infection, researchers reported here.

BOSTON -- The newly approved nucleoside analog Tyzeka (telbivudine) was superior to Epivir (lamivudine) at reducing hepatitis B virus to undetectable levels at two years of follow-up, reported investigators in studies presented here.

DENVER -- The trivalent influenza vaccine appears to be safe in children between the ages of six and 23 months, according to researchers here who reviewed more than 69,000 vaccinations among more than 45,000 children.

LAS VEGAS -- College students with pierced nipples, bellybuttons, and other body parts are risking hepatitis C virus infection when they share their jewelry, according to a study reported here.

GRENOBLE, France -- The risk of deep venous thromboembolism (DVT) in older patients could be significantly reduced if clinicians in post-acute care settings took to heart evidence-based guidelines, according to French researchers.

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- A lifetime of infections with rhinoviruses, enteroviruses, or other members of the picornavirus family could lead to cumulative memory loss, according to Mayo Clinic neuroscientists.

UTRECHT, The Netherlands -- Reserve antibiotics for children younger than two years old with bilateral acute otitis media infections or for any child with otorrhea, researchers here recommended. For other children, watchful waiting seems justified

LOS ANGELES -- The traveler's diarrhea antibiotic Xifaxan (rifaximin) appears to improve global symptoms and bloating of irritable bowel syndrome, according to researchers here.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Breast reconstruction surgery in extremely obese women is associated with a high rate of complications, reported researchers here.

ATLANTA -- An investigational gene therapy for Parkinson's disease is safe and shows preliminary signs of being effective, researchers reported here.

ATLANTA -- Just because doctors may not have received supplies of flu vaccine yet does not mean there is a shortage, the CDC said today.

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- The FDA approved Januvia (sitagliptin) today, the first dipetidyl peptidase-4 (DDP-4) inhibitor, an oral agent for type 2 diabetes as monotherapy or in combination with Glucophage (metformin) or a PPAR agonist.

TORONTO -- The Fluzone inactivated trivalent influenza vaccine, which is licensed for children older than six months and adults, is safe and immunogenic in infants from six and 12 weeks old, researchers reported here.

Acute Dx: What Cause of Sudden Illness?

This condition, also known as squamous cell carcinoma in situ, manifests in two thirds of patients as a solitary asymptomatic, slowly enlarging, erythematous, scaly 3-mm to 3-cm hyperkeratotic plaque that is crusted, fissured, or ulcerated.

SEATTLE -- Surgery to correct obstructive sleep apnea (uvulopalatopharyngoplasty) is more likely to have complications if the condition is severe, a concurrent retrolingual procedure is done, BMI is high, or there are medical comorbidities, found a VA study.

TORONTO -- Infectious disease specialists cited a report of Clostridium difficile disease in healthy young women, some of them pregnant, as a sign of an alarming shift of the infection to the community.

TORONTO -- Necrotizing fasciitis may be caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, especially in areas where community-acquired MRSA is prevalent, researchers reported here.

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- The FDA has approved the anti-angiogenic agent Avastin (bevacizumab), in combination with Taxol (paclitaxel) and Paraplatin (carboplatin), as first line therapy for non-small-cell lung cancer.

NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, Ontario -- The investigational novel antibiotic telavancin is as effective as vancomycin in treating complicated skin and skin structure infections caused by Gram-positive bacteria, researchers said today.

BOSTON -- National standards for hospital room decontamination do not completely prevent transmission of antibiotic-resistant infections, according to a federally sponsored study.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The long-suspected spread of onychomycosis and other dermatophytic fungal infections among family members has been confirmed, researchers reported here.